Exploring alternatives to constantly buying new crap

No garden food this week, but I should be able to make a small harvest next week. Watermelon is my favorite food, and on Wednesday I could no longer wait and stopped in at a supermarket to buy a seedless variety. By no means was it the best watermelon I’ve ever tasted, but it should keep me either until my own start growing or until they start showing up at the farmers market.

First Stop: Wheatsville Co-op

Fuji apples, 0.42 pounds: $1.05

Blood oranges, 0.63 pounds: $2.20

Avocado, x1: $1.99

Red delicious apples, 1.41 pounds: $3.23

Yellow onion, 0.77 pounds: $1.30

Red bell pepper, 0.28 pounds: $1.06

Green bell pepper, 0.32 pounds: $1.12

Zucchini, 0.78 pounds: $0.75

Bartlett pears, 0.89 pounds: $1.59

Navel oranges, 0.90 pounds: $1.63

Kiwi, x1: $0.79

Roma tomatoes, 0.61 pounds: $1.21

Toilet paper, x2: $1.58

Peanuts, 0.87 pounds: $4.50

Rice, 2.87 pounds: $8.01

Cashews, 1.15 pounds: $10.34

Soymilk, half-gallon: $3.00

Eggs, x12: $3.00

Sandwich bread, 1 loaf: $4.99

Cinnamon raisin bagel, x1: $0.99

Total: $51.81

Cashews were on sale this week. I should try using some of them to make cashew milk to work my way towards getting rid of those milk jugs–a regular single-use disposable on my list.

And someday I’ll get back in the habit of making bread again. Someday.

Second Stop: Downtown Farmers Market

Strawberries, 2 pints: $8.00

Brussel sprouts, 1 pint: $4.00

Beets, 1 bunch: $3.00

Broccoli, 1 crown: $2.50

Total: $17.50

Stocking up on more strawberries this week. Good thing I saved some plastic pint containers from previous purchases, so they made their way home without getting squished. (I had to eat a few to get them to fit, yum.)

I’ve been eating out for lunch two or three times a week at work and figure I’ll probably be more tempted to eat lunch from home if it’s something made with a little bit of meat. So I stopped at my go-to booth to get a chicken. Unfortunately, they didn’t have any yet, but it sounds like they’ll be harvesting chickens for next week’s market. I’ll be back!

Writing up my food haul blog from last week, I realized that I hadn’t tried any new produce for a while, so I was looking around for something interesting but didn’t see anything so decided I should give beets another shot. This time I’ll cut them up to roast with some other veggies. Anyhow, I had a team outing for work yesterday to Ramen Tatsu-Ya, where I had edamame and miso for the first time, so all’s good.

Also: Home Depot

As part of my Saturday morning errands, I also stopped by the Home Depot to pick up a couple of bags of compost and a packet of nasturtiums since they’re supposed to be a good companion plant for my cucumbers. Turns out they were on sale two for one so I’ll plant them in multiple areas tomorrow. The bags of compost are one of the things that create the most waste for me (big plastic bags), but I’m not prepared to give up the convenience of being able to carry a couple of bags with me on the bus just yet.